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SCOTUS Demands Clerks Hand over Phone Records, Sign Affidavits as Leak Investigation Continues

Some clerks are allegedly considering seeking outside counsel as a result

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SCOTUS clerks will soon be ordered to hand over their cell phone records and sign affidavits, as part of the investigation to discover who was behind the leak of the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

The draft opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, authored by Samuel Alito and seemingly backed by 4 of the other SCOTUS Justices, was leaked to Politico at the beginning of May, and suggested that the court would overturn Roe v. Wade when published.

Chief Justice John Roberts immediately ordered the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak, which he slammed at the time as being a “betrayal of the confidences of the Court,” and an “egegious breach of trust,” but that it would not succeed in undermining “the integrity” of SCOTUS operations.

As a result, three sources told CNN on Monday that SCOTUS clerks are set to be forced to hand over their cell phone records to the court, and sign an affidavit when doing so. It is unclear as to what scope, including content or time period, any such phone search would comprise of.

Some clerks are allegedly so concerned that they are “considering hiring outside counsel,” CNN claimed. “That’s what similarly situated individuals would do in virtually any other government investigation,” said an anonymous appellate lawyer. “It would be hypocritical for the Supreme Court to prevent its own employees from taking advantage of that fundamental legal protection.”

Conservative attorney Jonathan Turley said that the affidavits relating to the phone searches would “come with the most worrisome change” for the SCOTUS leaker, as “once signed, the leaker will reaffirm his or her potential criminal liability”:

“After all, the leaker may have wisely avoided using the cellphone or creating digital tracks. The affidavit is a sworn statement to federal investigators. If false, it would establish that a federal crime has been committed. Under 18 U.S.C. 1001, it is a federal crime to knowingly and willfully make a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States.

Turley noted that if the leaker were ever to “go public or be uncovered in the future, there would be a risk of not simply disbarment, but criminal prosecution.” Lying on an affidavit would therefore be another potential federal crime added to the plate of the leaker, who may have also broken 18 U.S.C. 641 and 2071.

As Valiant News reported, following the leak, a memo from the Department of Homeland Security warned that radical abortion activists were plotting violence against SCOTUS Justices and others, including places of worship, and peaceful pro-life demonstrators.

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Jack Hadfield
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Jack Hadfield is the Associate Editor at Valiant News. An investigative reporter from the UK, and the director and presenter of "Destination Dover: Migrants in the Channel, his work has appeared in such sites as Breitbart and The Political Insider. You can follow him on Gab @JH, on Telegram @JackHadders, or see his other social media by visiting jackhadfield.co.uk.

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    JOHN MAYOR

    June 1, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    The leak of the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, is not about Roe v. Wade… nor would it be about the subject matter of any issue before the courts!… IT IS ABOUT THE INTERFERENCE IN THE COURSE OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE! And it is similar to releasing a premature jury result, before a jury has reached a FINAL DETERMINATION. IT’S A FEDERAL OFFENSE!

    A court… ANY COURT!… must be free from undue influence! And here, you have someone (for perceived– or, substantive!– polit[ic] gain, or for one economic!… and yikes, to the latter!) who has STOLEN an opinion of a lawfully established Federal Court; and therewith, inadvertently– OR DELIBERATELY!– influencing the outcome of a decision before it has been ratified by the Justices of the court!

    To be honest– and to be frank!– if it was my “call” to make… and regardless of whether I had initially agreed to overturn Roe v. Wade!… I would quash the matter before the court, based on the breach of the courts sacrosanct prerequisite impartiality– and on that alone! For, simply, in a subsequent court challenge by abortion rights stakeholders citing the breach, what court would then deny the challenge, based upon countless court precedents… which begs the question: Who– INDEED!– was behind this leak? A leak, that which warrants a significant penalty!

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